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The Last of the Wild Thing Line


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shofarguy
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 12:44 pm    Post subject: The Last of the Wild Thing Line Reply with quote

The Last of the Wild Thing Horn Line

An era has passed.

It began with an accident. Flip Oakes was living in Oceanside and working as a development player for Zig Kanstul, while holding down a job at Music Craft Industries in San Diego and playing gigs as much as seven days a week. He was offered an electric motor that Kanstul no longer needed, so Flip went up to the factory to pick it up. The motor was old, large and heavy. Flip loaded it into the bed of his pickup and headed home. In the bed was a soft case with his trumpet and flugelhorn. At some point in the traffic, Flip had to make a hard braking stop. The motor tumbled forward in the bed and crushed the trumpet. Fortunately, the flugelhorn survived, unscathed. This was the prototype for what became the Kanstul 1525 known at the factory as Flip’s Flugel, but to Flip it’s the Art Farmer flugelhorn.

At that time, Flip played a Claude Gordon Benge that he had modified with a reversed lead pipe and a Holton 302-MF bell. Flip had also modified that bell, opening up the tail to .468” to give him the open blow and broader sound he wanted. Being an accomplished brass repair technician, Flip set about putting the trumpet back in a playable condition. But, the horn never played as well after that. Flip began thinking about its replacement.

Nothing on the market in 1993 gave him what he was looking for, but because he was associated with Kanstul Musical Instruments, he thought he could work out a design that would suit. He and Zig walked the floor of the factory together and Flip spotted a certain bell mandrel. It was not a Bb trumpet bell. “Why don’t we use that?” he asked. Zig replied, “That will never work!”

Flip held his ground and Zig agreed to use the mandrel to make the new trumpet for him. That first horn was built with a .460” bore. It started out as a prototype for a defunct project for Doc Severinsen and Conn. Then, the Wild Thing bell was attached. The result was a unique horn with an odd proportion having an open wrap with a longer initial tubing assembly leading into the valve block and a correspondingly shorter bell tail, which brought the rim about 1-1/2” closer to the player. It was the most conical trumpet yet made and sort of a trumpet/cornet hybrid. When it came time to do the final finishing, Zig asked Flip what he wanted to call it. With his ever lurking sense of humor, Flip chose a name to reflect its boisterous demeanor and “Killer” was engraved on the bell.

Killer played surprisingly well. It had no lack of the carrying power, but Flip needed more sound and “room to work" for the large outdoor venues on tour, so he had Kanstul make three with a .470” bore for his own use. These Large bore valve blocks used ultra-thin inner slide tubes to get the larger inner diameter, keeping the same outer tubes as the standard weight ML valves. It gave these huge horns an agility and responsiveness that other trumpets just didn’t have. It also made for the most difficult-to-build trumpet design in Kanstul’s repertoire. But, it all worked! This was finally the horn Flip had been trying to find throughout his career as a player and repairman.

He began to take it out on tour. Flip played in a number of Dixieland Jazz bands that would travel to Classical Jazz festivals at different venues around the country. During the events, some players would ask him what he was playing and Flip would offer his trumpet for them to try. The response was always, “This thing is wild!” and often that would be followed by, “Can I buy it from you?” Pretty soon, Flip had sold the initial three horns and needed more made.

Demand from other players soon forced Flip to go into business and offer the horn for sale. When the time came to name it, Flip drew from his customers’ responses and named it the “Wild Thing.” Eventually, Flip added a flugelhorn, two cornet designs and a C trumpet to his product line. These all used the Wild Thing bell and are still highly treasured by their players as some of the finest playing and sounding instruments of their kind ever produced.

Later came the Celebration Bb trumpet, which used the basic “Wild Thing wrap” and valve section, but with a different, more traditional bell and somewhat tighter lead pipe. In the final year of Kanstul’s manufacturing, Flip developed and introduced the Inspiration and Legend Bb trumpets. These gave the prospective customer the choice of either a heavier, more focused Inspiration (based on a so-called “frankenhorn” that close friend Arturo Sandoval had developed using the Wild Thing bell, a Selmer valve block and Twin Tube lead pipe), or the Legend which is a traditional ML bore horn patterned after the Besson trumpets of the early 20th century. Just a handful each of these two models were made before Kanstul closed its doors.

All in all, more than 2000 Wild Thing trumpets, cornets and flugelhorn were built and sold between 1994 and 2019. At its peak, Flip Oakes Band Instruments sold 10-12 horns each month. That was up until the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001. Small businesses of all types were hurt that day, but Flip’s business nearly disappeared. When we met in the Spring of 2009, Flip was soldiering on with a few sales each month. For me, these past ten years of friendship have been a Godsend and I have been happy to do my part to promote his instruments.

Over the last three years of so, Flip has been through some very tough physical challenges, but he has survived! His business has changed to where his offerings are made off-shore in Asia now and can be bought by those who are willing to purchase one of the early pilot production run of horns or who will wait for full production inventory to arrive. But, the Wild Thing line has come to an end. At least for now.

Enthusiasts know that B.A.C. Instruments purchased the tooling and leftover parts from Kanstul. It seems possible that they could eventually build Wild Thing trumpets and Flugelhorn. Flip has held onto the last examples of some of his instruments to have them as models if the opportunity arrives to build more. Though the Celebrations, the C trumpets, American Long and Shepherds Crook Short cornets are gone, there are at this writing a few Legend trumpets still available to purchase.


Last Wild Thing Bb trumpet - 5-1/4” copper bell, 25-O lead pipe, gold plated. Serial # 53345 . Superb example of the brand.


Last Wild Thing Flugelhorn - 6-1/4” copper bell, clear lacquer. Serial #53253. This photo shows the 3rd valve finger ring which was added to his production specs after Flip saw the modification I had made to my personal Kanstul 1025. It also shows the original reversed bend trigger I had fashioned for that horn. I later traded my Kanstul for a silver Wild Thing flugelhorn and Flip has kept that trigger to use on his personal horns ever since.


Last Inspiration - 5-1/4” yellow brass bell, clear lacquer. Serial #52753. The Inspiration version of the Wild Thing was inspired by a “frankenhorn” developed for Arturo Sandoval. It uses a Kanstul copy of the Selmer Twin Tube lead pipe that Arturo had and large, heavy finger rings, similar to the Sandoval horn. The Sandoval horn has a .461” bore Selmer valve block, while the Inspiration has the same .470” bore Kanstul Signature valve block used for Flip’s Wild Thing, Celebration and C trumpets.


Last Kanstul-built Flip Oakes horn - This unnamed, one-of-a kind Bb trumpet is a slightly different version of the Inspiration concept. Serial #52747. Like the Inspiration, it has a 5-1/4” WT bell, but in bronze; twin tube Selmer-type lead pipe; heavy top and bottom valve caps and finger buttons; and delicate Selmer style bell braces. It wears smaller diameter, wider finger rings for right pinky and 3rd valve slide, plus a 1st valve saddle that is different from Inspiration. It uses brass outer tubes and is finished in clear lacquer. I like to call it “Mystére,” because it has a bit of french flare, but its origin is somewhat obscure. Mystére was a Kanstul project intended to mimic the Selmer-based Arturo Sandoval horn, but it was left unassembled. As the factory was closing, Kanstul called Flip to ask if he wanted the horn. Thinking it would be the fifth Inspiration, he affirmed that he did. So it was assembled and shipped to Oceanside branded only with the Flip Oakes logo. Later, Flip discovered that it is a .460” bore trumpet, not the .470” bore of the Inspiration. It is the last horn to be delivered to Flip from the Kanstul factory.

So, in a bit of irony, the Wild Thing line starts with the prototype, “Killer” and ends with “Mystére,” both of which are .460” iterations of their respective .470” bore production models, and there were twenty-five years of fantastic instruments in between!



“Even though the Wild Thing has come to an end, at this time, I’m personally very happy with how the brand has developed. The series of instruments were a great success and I’m proud of how well my horns have been received both domestically and Internationally. I have received many unsolicited letters, phone calls of endorsement and testimonials that have never been published and I am grateful to all of you who have made my Wild Thing instruments part of your music making.” ~ Flip Oakes
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Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.


Last edited by shofarguy on Thu Jan 02, 2020 2:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Brad361
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice write up Brian, thank you!

Brad
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Steve A
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An interesting read - thanks for sharing!
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tptptp
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for that nice summary. I hope Flip prospers. I'm going to hang on to my Wild Thing Bb.
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Liberty Lips
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's odd that the last horn that Kanstul delivered to Flip has the lowest serial number.
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wkh
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Brian.
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shofarguy
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Liberty Lips wrote:
It's odd that the last horn that Kanstul delivered to Flip has the lowest serial number.


Not especially. The valve sections were all made by one person, in recent years. They are made in batches and receive their serial numbers as they're assembled. When a horn is assembled, it's not terribly uncommon for its serial number to be out of sync.

The Mystére was started some time before it was assembled. Many of the parts were already fabricated when Kanstul made their call to Flip. It was just a matter of putting them together and finishing the horn.

The gold Wild Thing trumpet has the latest serial number of all.
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Brian A. Douglas

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.
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theslawdawg
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Brian!
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JetJaguar
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks very much Brian!
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Brian.
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Michael Drapp
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:30 pm    Post subject: Re: The Last of the Wild Thing Line Reply with quote

shofarguy wrote:
The Last of the Wild Thing Horn Line

An era has passed.

It began with an accident. Flip Oakes was living in Oceanside and working as a development player for Zig Kanstul, while holding down a job at Music Craft Industries in San Diego and playing gigs as much as seven days a week. He was offered an electric motor that Kanstul no longer needed, so Flip went up to the factory to pick it up. The motor was old, large and heavy. Flip loaded it into the bed of his pickup and headed home. In the bed was a soft case with his trumpet and flugelhorn. At some point in the traffic, Flip had to make a hard braking stop. The motor tumbled forward in the bed and crushed the trumpet. Fortunately, the flugelhorn survived, unscathed. This was the prototype for what became the Kanstul 1525 known at the factory as Flip’s Flugel, but to Flip it’s the Art Farmer flugelhorn.

At that time, Flip played a Claude Gordon Benge that he had modified with a reversed lead pipe and a Holton 302-MF bell. Flip had also modified that bell, opening up the tail to .468” to give him the open blow and broader sound he wanted. Being an accomplished brass repair technician, Flip set about putting the trumpet back in a playable condition. But, the horn never played as well after that. Flip began thinking about its replacement.

Nothing on the market in 1993 gave him what he was looking for, but because he was associated with Kanstul Musical Instruments, he thought he could work out a design that would suit. He and Zig walked the floor of the factory together and Flip spotted a certain bell mandrel. It was not a Bb trumpet bell. “Why don’t we use that?” he asked. Zig replied, “That will never work!”

Flip held his ground and Zig agreed to use the mandrel to make the new trumpet for him. That first horn was built with a .460” bore. It started out as a prototype for a defunct project for Doc Severinsen and Conn. Then, the Wild Thing bell was attached. The result was a unique horn with an odd proportion having an open wrap with a longer initial tubing assembly leading into the valve block and a correspondingly shorter bell tail, which brought the rim about 1-1/2” closer to the player. It was the most conical trumpet yet made and sort of a trumpet/cornet hybrid. When it came time to do the final finishing, Zig asked Flip what he wanted to call it. With his ever lurking sense of humor, Flip chose a name to reflect its boisterous demeanor and “Killer” was engraved on the bell.

Killer played surprisingly well. It had no lack of the carrying power, but Flip needed more sound and “room to work" for the large outdoor venues on tour, so he had Kanstul make three with a .470” bore for his own use. These Large bore valve blocks used ultra-thin inner slide tubes to get the larger inner diameter, keeping the same outer tubes as the standard weight ML valves. It gave these huge horns an agility and responsiveness that other trumpets just didn’t have. It also made for the most difficult-to-build trumpet design in Kanstul’s repertoire. But, it all worked! This was finally the horn Flip had been trying to find throughout his career as a player and repairman.

He began to take it out on tour. Flip played in a number of Dixieland Jazz bands that would travel to Classical Jazz festivals at different venues around the country. During the events, some players would ask him what he was playing and Flip would offer his trumpet for them to try. The response was always, “This thing is wild!” and often that would be followed by, “Can I buy it from you?” Pretty soon, Flip had sold the initial three horns and needed more made.

Demand from other players soon forced Flip to go into business and offer the horn for sale. When the time came to name it, Flip drew from his customers’ responses and named it the “Wild Thing.” Eventually, Flip added a flugelhorn, two cornet designs and a C trumpet to his product line. These all used the Wild Thing bell and are still highly treasured by their players as some of the finest playing and sounding instruments of their kind ever produced.

Later came the Celebration Bb trumpet, which used the basic “Wild Thing wrap” and valve section, but with a different, more traditional bell and somewhat tighter lead pipe. In the final year of Kanstul’s manufacturing, Flip developed and introduced the Inspiration and Legend Bb trumpets. These gave the prospective customer the choice of either a heavier, more focused Inspiration (based on a so-called “frankenhorn” that close friend Arturo Sandoval had developed using the Wild Thing bell, a Selmer valve block and Twin Tube lead pipe), or the Legend which is a traditional ML bore horn patterned after the Besson trumpets of the early 20th century. Just a handful each of these two models were made before Kanstul closed its doors.

All in all, more than 2000 Wild Thing trumpets, cornets and flugelhorn were built and sold between 1994 and 2019. At its peak, Flip Oakes Band Instruments sold 10-12 horns each month. That was up until the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001. Small businesses of all types were hurt that day, but Flip’s business nearly disappeared. When we met in the Spring of 2009, Flip was soldiering on with a few sales each month. For me, these past ten years of friendship have been a Godsend and I have been happy to do my part to promote his instruments.

Over the last three years of so, Flip has been through some very tough physical challenges, but he has survived! His business has changed to where his offerings are made off-shore in Asia now and can be bought by those who are willing to purchase one of the early pilot production run of horns or who will wait for full production inventory to arrive. But, the Wild Thing line has come to an end. At least for now.

Enthusiasts know that B.A.C. Instruments purchased the tooling and leftover parts from Kanstul. It seems possible that they could eventually build Wild Thing trumpets and Flugelhorn. Flip has held onto the last examples of some of his instruments to have them as models if the opportunity arrives to build more. Though the Celebrations, the C trumpets, American Long and Shepherds Crook Short cornets are gone, there are at this writing a few Legend trumpets still available to purchase.


Last Wild Thing Bb trumpet - 5-1/4” copper bell, 25-O lead pipe, gold plated. Serial # 53345 . Superb example of the brand.


Last Wild Thing Flugelhorn - 6-1/4” copper bell, clear lacquer. Serial #53253. This photo shows the 3rd valve finger ring which was added to his production specs after Flip saw the modification I had made to my personal Kanstul 1025. It also shows the original reversed bend trigger I had fashioned for that horn. I later traded my Kanstul for a silver Wild Thing flugelhorn and Flip has kept that trigger to use on his personal horns ever since.


Last Inspiration - 5-1/4” yellow brass bell, clear lacquer. Serial #52753. The Inspiration version of the Wild Thing was inspired by a “frankenhorn” developed for Arturo Sandoval. It uses a Kanstul copy of the Selmer Twin Tube lead pipe that Arturo had and large, heavy finger rings, similar to the Sandoval horn. The Sandoval horn has a .461” bore Selmer valve block, while the Inspiration has the same .470” bore Kanstul Signature valve block used for Flip’s Wild Thing, Celebration and C trumpets.


Last Kanstul-built Flip Oakes horn - This unnamed, one-of-a kind Bb trumpet is a slightly different version of the Inspiration concept. Serial #52747. Like the Inspiration, it has a 5-1/4” WT bell, but in bronze; twin tube Selmer-type lead pipe; heavy top and bottom valve caps and finger buttons; and delicate Selmer style bell braces. It wears smaller diameter, wider finger rings for right pinky and 3rd valve slide, plus a 1st valve saddle that is different from Inspiration. It uses brass outer tubes and is finished in clear lacquer. I like to call it “Mystére,” because it has a bit of french flare, but its origin is somewhat obscure. Mystére was a Kanstul project intended to mimic the Selmer-based Arturo Sandoval horn, but it was left unassembled. As the factory was closing, Kanstul called Flip to ask if he wanted the horn. Thinking it would be the fifth Inspiration, he affirmed that he did. So it was assembled and shipped to Oceanside branded only with the Flip Oakes logo. Later, Flip discovered that it is a .460” bore trumpet, not the .470” bore of the Inspiration. It is the last horn to be delivered to Flip from the Kanstul factory.

So, in a bit of irony, the Wild Thing line starts with the prototype, “Killer” and ends with “Mystére,” both of which are .460” iterations of their respective .470” bore production models, and there were twenty-five years of fantastic instruments in between!



“Even though the Wild Thing has come to an end, at this time, I’m personally very happy with how the brand has developed. The series of instruments were a great success and I’m proud of how well my horns have been received both domestically and Internationally. I have received many unsolicited letters, phone calls of endorsement and testimonials that have never been published and I am grateful to all of you who have made my Wild Thing instruments part of your music making.” ~ Flip Oakes


Brian,

This makes me wonder where my Wild Thing was in the production process? From what I read here, and conversations that I have had with Flip, I believe that it must have been made just after "Killer" or just after the original .470 bored instruments were made and sold. Zig made the bell on my horn, of this Flip and I are certain, because of the way that it has been annealed. I hope that production can be resumed in the near future; perhaps by Adams? In any event, my Wild Thing is the finest trumpet that I have ever owned or played on; a true testament to Flip's genius and care in its design and production
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, so I'll bite on this, just because I'm curious, not because I can afford another horn right now...you mention that Flip is is sourcing a horn out of Asia, but a couple of days ago Flip posted on TH announcing that he was closing down his website. So what gives? Is Flip really getting out of the custom horn business or will he be coming back with a new website soon in the future with a new edition of the "Wild Thing"...or maybe something else (Son of Wild Thing?)...
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why is this so wide?
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shofarguy
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

royjohn wrote:
Ok, so I'll bite on this, just because I'm curious, not because I can afford another horn right now...you mention that Flip is is sourcing a horn out of Asia, but a couple of days ago Flip posted on TH announcing that he was closing down his website. So what gives? Is Flip really getting out of the custom horn business or will he be coming back with a new website soon in the future with a new edition of the "Wild Thing"...or maybe something else (Son of Wild Thing?)...


I hope to find out what Flip intends to do in the future, come Memorial Weekend and my family vacation in Oceanside. To date, I can tell you this: Flip hopes he can stay out of the hospital, first and foremost. He has been near death on three occasions in the past 5 years, or so. The most recent being just last month.

As far as a new builder for Wild Thing horns goes, I don't see that happening. I've sat with him on numerous occasions over the years discussing why Kanstul was his builder and not another - any other - builder. There was some conversation between Flip and Michael Carrigan, but there seems even less chance that BAC will build his horns, now that John Duda has passed. How would they do it? We've discussed Schilke, Getzen and others, but Flip is very particular and knows what he wants and needs in terms of the finish product, his business model and the market.

The foray into selling instruments sourced in Asia was promising at first, but importing from Asia is challenging at best, cumbersome for a low volume retailer like Flip and still suffers from the stigma of low quality. He received only one small order of his Fusion models and few have sold, even though they are fine instruments by all accounts.

I have only spoken with Flip in text messages, recently, so I don't have much real and current information, but I think Flip is at a crossroads and is having to, like so many others, find another way to live. All of his normal income threads are gone. No instruments, no live performances at this time, health challenges. It's a tough time.

I, for one, support his business and livelihood as much as I can. I still buy mouthpieces. I still buy horns when I can, such as the Schilke X4 I had for awhile. Guys like Flip need us to care with our wallets.
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Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.
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Gregory K. Sloat
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:57 am    Post subject: The last Wild Thing Reply with quote

Well, here it is, June 24, 2021, and I just read your article from a year and a half ago (I just reactivated my account). I saw “the last Wild Thing,” in the photo, serial number 53345.

I also have a Copper Bell Wild Thing I purchased on June 26, 2019 (delivered on July 2, 2019). It’s Wild Thing #53346, so wouldn’t that actually make MY Wild Thing “the last Wild Thing”? OK, I’m kidding. 🤣

My Wild Thing story.

I used to monitor the Flip Oakes web site periodically, waiting for the day that I could finally afford to purchase a Wild Thing. I had wanted one since I first read Clint “Pops” McLaughlin’s review. Then, a guy who was in college with me at the University of Minnesota bought one, and one year at the U of M Homecoming he let me play his horn. That was it. I had to have one.

Fast forward many years to June, 2019, and I hadn’t been to the web site in about a year, but I had come into a small amount of money and decided to check to see how much the prices had increased since my last visit.

That’s when I saw the announcement of the closing of Kanstul, and that the Wild Thing had ceased production. I immediately got on the phone and called Flip to see if he had any Wild Things left. I had wanted a silver one and was dismayed to learn all the silver ones were gone. All Flip had left were three Copper Bell Wild Things.

I bought mine on the spot.

When it arrived and I saw my new horn for the first time, my reservations about anything “not silver” disappeared. The horn plays and sounds just as beautiful as it looks, and it looks GORGEOUS!

Now, I try to visit Flip’s web site, periodically, to see what’s happening with his line of horns that are made overseas, but for several weeks I haven’t been able to get on the web site. It says the server is down. Several weeks after I bought my Wild Thing Flip had heart surgery, and with not being able to get on the web site I’m concerned as to whether he’s OK, or not. I hesitate to bother him, so if you have any information or could update me, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.

Gregory K. Sloat

UPDATE: I wrote the above before I had a chance to read the rest of the thread. I’m glad to hear that Flip is still alive, and saddened that the web site and the era of Flip Oakes instruments seems to have come to an end.
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Gregory K. Sloat
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:43 am    Post subject: Margins Reply with quote

Why are the margins all screwed up?
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LittleRusty
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:58 am    Post subject: Re: Margins Reply with quote

Gregory K. Sloat wrote:
Why are the margins all screwed up?

Oversized pictures and urls cause the phpbb software to screw up.

You might want to read this thread by Flip.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:10 pm    Post subject: The Last of the Wild Thing Line Reply with quote

Flip did a Total Enhancement on my Kanstul 1001. Amazing difference. He is a knowledge base of all things trumpet that needs to be handed down to the next generation somehow.

As already stated, support him with your wallet if you can. Even those of us who are just "aspiring to be decent amateurs" enjoy our hobby more because of him.

Mike
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Bach190ML43
Kanstul 1001
Bach NY7
Yamaha 631 Flugel
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yourbrass
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Joined: 12 Jun 2011
Posts: 3619
Location: Pacifica, CA, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard III wrote:
Why is this so wide?


I'm not a techie, but I believe this platform is influenced by the size of the photo files loaded into a thread. I've sort of figured out that 600 x 800 work better to keep the format narrow.
-Lionel
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ACB MV3C /ACB A1/26 backbore
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royjohn
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Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 2272
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope and pray that Flip gets to better health and goes on to produce wonderful instruments for years to come. That said, I think it is tragic that many craftsmen, technicians and scientist-inventors give so little thought to passing on their knowledge and devising a business succession plan. In Kanstul's case a wonderful manufacturing facility died and the tooling, which might have gone to someone hand-picked for their expertise in using it, went at auction and who knows what's going to happen to it. Certainly no one is making Wild Thing bells now. Flip should have owned the mandrel. In Flip's case, I guess he's the only one with intimate knowledge of his designs and also his mystical, but very successful "total enhancement." When he's no longer available to make horns or enhance them, will anyone be heir to his knowledge and tooling?

For these business owners, they are also missing the boat on a source of income, when plans and tools and other expertise could be sold with a promise of secrecy or no use until the owner gave permission. Kind of like an option to buy at a future date...

I don't have a dog in this fight except to bemoan the loss of irreplaceable knowledge and products...just sayin'...
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royjohn
Trumpets: 1928 Holton Llewellyn Model, 1957 Holton 51LB, 2010 Custom C by Bill Jones, 2011 Custom D/Eb by Bill Jones
Flugels: 1975 Olds Superstar, 1970's Elkhardt, 1970's Getzen 4 valve
Cornet: 1970's Yamaha YCR-233S . . . and others . . .
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